MOUNT HEALTHY, Ohio — The Mount Healthy City School District is seriously considering cutting athletics and performing arts.
The district has been in fiscal emergency since April 2024 when officials discovered an accounting error. That financial crisis has already led to the district cutting more than 100 staff positions and school transportation.
A 3-mill levy failed in November, with just over 53% of voters saying no and 46.6% voting yes.
Now sports, including Friday night football games, are on the chopping block.
Superintendent Dr. Sarah Wilson told me that the Board of Education will vote Thursday night on which levy they want to put on the ballot for voters in May.
The first option is a 5.95 mill property tax levy that would cost homeowners about $208 per $100,000 in home value.
The second option is a 0.75% earned income tax levy, which could lessen the levy's impact on residents on a fixed income.
Both options could generate about $3 million a year for the district.
News about the possibility of cutting sports spread quickly — it’s a hard reality for first-year football coach AJ Williams.
“The pure devastation of a Friday night, not having those lights down at probably one of the best facilities in the city of Cincinnati would truly devastate the community,” Williams said.
Hear from Coach Williams and the Jones brothers on what football means to Mount Healthy:
But it’s not just about the field on Friday night.
Williams is a big believer that sports are making his players better overall and better contributors to the community.
“Don’t take away this opportunity from young men, young women because quite frankly we don’t want to add a little bit more on our plate as business owners or as residents,” Williams said.
Williams sees football as a path to achieve success in other aspects of life and a chance for many of his players to get out of the small town they’ve grown up in.
He knows the path personally and said that football was the reason he got into college, playing for Michigan University before returning to Cincinnati to coach.
He wants that same reality for the Jones brothers, Pierre and Kierre.
“It would break me because I’ve always set a standard to myself, my standard is to go to college for football,” Pierre said. “Not having my last year to play would break me.”
Younger brother Kierre was the starting varsity quarterback for the Owls this year, a true freshman who has a gift.
“I’ve been playing quarterback since I was 11 years old," Kierre said. "If they cut football, I wouldn’t know what to do."
The current pay-to-play fee at Mount Healthy starts at $150.
Coach Williams said they have to fundraise that money for many of the players.
Wilson said cutting extra curricular activities is a last resort, but they’ll be looking at the budget in the coming months to map out exactly what cuts will be made if the next levy fails.
The last operating levy to pass was in 2003.
